Sephora VIB Wishlist + Tips for the Best Sale

For a few days each November, Sephora offers a cool 20% off all purchases to its VIB and VIB Rouge members. It’s a great time to stock up on beauty staples, buy a few gifts, or try things you wouldn’t normally buy. For the past few years, I’ve used the November VIB sale to score holiday value sets, along with pricier items for which I’m not too keen on paying full price.

If this is your first time shopping the sale, here are a few tips:

Do your research in advance. Know on Day 1 of the sale what you plan to buy. Go to Sephora, swatch things, get testers. DO NOT BUY THEM YET.

I highly, highly recommend you order online to avoid the busy stores. In Toronto, anyway, Sephora stores are an absolute nightmare to shop in during the sale. It will be difficult to try things, and many things will be sold out. Maybe you don’t mind elbowing your fellow beauty junkies for a swatch? You do you. But when you shop online, you can also use Ebates to score another 4% cash back.

Set a budget and plan a no-buy. I tend to spend a lot during the sale, but I also dramatically curb my spending before and after (especially with Christmas creeping up immediately following the sale).

Finally, as a complement to all of the above: Instead of adding items you want to your Loves list, add them to your cart when signed into your account on Sephora. Doing this prevents me from making any purchases at Sephora in the months leading up to the sale, since I’m not about to remove everything from my cart just to make a silly impulse buy. I’ll add the impulse item to my cart, sure, and if it’s still in stock when the sale starts, I’ll probably still get it. Adding items to my cart instead of my Loves also allows me to keep track of what I’m spending so that I can stay within my budget. I add and remove items as I go, curating a balance of splurges and saves to make the most of my money.

I wish this fragrance came in a rollerball format — I would scoop it up in a heartbeat. The price makes me weep, but I have wanted this for years. Since I have a few personal achievements to celebrate this month, this might just be the year I treat myself.

This is the value set I am most excited about this year. Six full size NUDESTIX Magnetic Eye Colors for (considerably) less than the cost of three? I’m in. I’m so glad I held off on purchasing Taupe a few weeks back — the universe was warning me.

My colour selection is a little boring, but I’m looking forward to trying these new lip products from NARS. In a recent video, Jaime Page heralded them as her new favourite liquid lipstick, comparing them to the Colourpop Ultra Satin Lip Colour. I decided to go for these light nude shades since they will be easy to incorporate into my daily routine.

Sigh, another splurge. I received a deluxe sample of this product earlier this summer, and I was able to get about three uses out of it. It’s been on my wishlist ever since because I was so impressed with the results. I’m going to have to decide between this or the AERIN perfume, since I can’t bring myself to splurge on two big ticket items in an already splurgey extravaganza. Which one would you pick?

When the sale actually starts, I’ll also browse the sale section to see if any more deals can be had on products I’m likely to enjoy.

What’s on your wishlist? Do you have any other tips for making the most of this incredible sale? Let me know in the comments below!

Nice list! I’m loving the Clinique value sets this year. How will you decide to narrow it down? Another big ticket item on my wishlist that I didn’t include here is a hair dryer… I don’t know how I’m going to choose between AERIN, Tata Harper, or banishing frizz from my life. Hmm.

I’ll probably mostly get sets, skincare, and a few things I want to give as gifts this Christmas (my boyfriend loves fancy exfoliating soaps). I probably won’t buy either of the perfumes — I have a bunch to work through — or the full-size makeup items.

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Hi! I'm Marissa, the creator of Plateau Beauty. Plateau Beauty is a Canadian blog for makeup and skincare enthusiasts with a focus on simple, natural beauty. Here you'll find product comparisons and reviews, monthly favourites, and news and information for Canada-based consumers.